Gear review: Jawbone UP3

So here’s my newest piece of fitness kit, the Jawbone UP3. We’ve been together for about a month now, and it’s going really well. Sure, in the beginning I was trying to impress it – opting to walk more steps than I usually would, faithfully tracking everything I ate (this lasted about two days), and making an effort to take note and follow the handy advice the associated smartphone app suggests for me. Now that the honeymoon period is over, it’s the right time for a review.

The UP3 is the latest incarnation of Jawbone’s fitness tracker worn on your wrist, and its design and range of colours makes it look less like a prison tags than others out there, which is always nice – but it still doesn’t look great if you’re wearing something nice on a night out.

Paired with a free smartphone app, it gives you quite an insight into your lifestyle habits – in terms of your step count, resting heart rate, quantity and quality of sleep, exercise, food, water consumption etc. Steps, heart rate and sleep are tracked automatically, the rest you have to input yourself – if you choose to.

You can set daily step targets (the average is 10,000 steps, and your bracelet will go slightly mental and vibrate to tell you when you’ve reached it) to encourage you to move every day, and the more data you track, the more you can see which habits make you sleep better/have energy to exercise more etc.

Plus, if you’re in a sedentary job, you can also set an inactivity reminder to go off after you’ve been sat still for a certain amount of time – you can choose. I’ve got mine set to buzz for every 45 minutes I’m sat down during the day – it’s not always feasible to stop what I’m doing and stand up or walk, but it does at least make you aware that your legs could probably do with something to do soon.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect is the Smartcoach. Not an actual middle-aged man who wears a baseball cap and shorts in winter who tells you to ‘Drop and give me 10’, but an aspect of the app that actually gives context and meaning to the data you’re continually inputting.

For instance, if your bedtimes and sleep patterns have been erratic, Smartcoach will advise a bedtime that will help you catch up on sleep and keep your sleep consistent – if you choose to accept that bedtime, the app will even give you a nudge to start getting ready for bed half an hour beforehand. Whether you find this naggy and intrusive, or a genuinely helpful reminder to get off Instagram is down to you.

It even seems to know when you’ve been out on the piss – taking the information that you were in bed later than usual and that your resting  heart rate is higher than usual, I was then given advice about what effects alcohol have on the body, which is pretty clever. And a bit stalky.

In a world where people probably aren’t told ‘Well done’ often enough, the fact that you’re told you’ve achieved a goal and are doing a great job is also a nice feeling. Even if all you’ve done is walk for 10 minutes more than usual.

 

What’s more, by selecting a thumbs up or thumbs down for each bit of advice – to indicate whether you find it interesting or not – the app will then provide further insights based on what you want to know. And, in the interest of self-improvement, the app may also challenge you to keep upping your step count day on day. If you know you’re going to be bound to sitting in the office, you can always select ‘Not today’, but if you accept it’s a nice motivation to get outside and have a walk.

You can post your progress on the app to any other users you might be friends with, and there’s also the option to post it up on other social media sites (if you really want to be that person). The chances are, if you’re interested in monitoring and improving your lifestyle, being in competition with yourself will be enough to keep you going.

As for me? I have had a different tracker in the past and was frankly quite relieved when it broke – its app plagued me with sad faces when I wanted to have the odd day sat on the sofa. So far, I don’t feel this way about the Jawbone UP3, so maybe this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

Brand in the spotlight: Sports Philosophy

Sports Philosophy’s bootcamp

At a time when new fitness brands and innovations are pretty much ten-a-penny, it’s hard to know which ones are worth taking notice of. Usually the ones with the prettiest patterned leggings and best half-price sales make it for me… However, to be a better citizen while keeping fit, it’s always nice to know you’ve bought from a brand doing some good in the world. Enter Sports Philosophy.

Sports Philosophy’s run club is a great way to meet new people as you exercise

Co-founded by Matthias Tietz, Stella Heng and the excellently-named Dr Wolfgang Spiess-Knafl, they all gave up corporate city jobs to launch this sportswear brand with an ethical conscience. How? Their business model combines profit and non-profit in order to fuel the fight against child labour, with the impressive aim to raise and give £1,000,000 to the cause by 2022 as part of its Freedom For Children campaign.

The company is also backed by industry experts, such as its three incredibly cool ambassadors – fitness expert and nutritionist Zanna Van Dijk, fitness expert and sports journalist Tashi Skervin and medical herbalist and nutritionist Claire Rother – they’re all totally worth an Insta follow for tips and inspiration.

Tashi’s run club in Hyde Park

What’s more, as well as making stuff for you to wear when you work out, Sports Philosophy also facilitates ways for you to exercise for FREE – a rare treat in London. Tashi hosts a regular running club, which takes on various scenic routes in the city – I went along for a lovely Saturday morning run in Hyde Park, where we covered 3.5 miles around the Serpentine, before being rewarded by a tasty, healthy picnic featuring coconut water from Unoco, muesli from Cuckoo and homemade banana and peanut butter bites.

Sports Philosophy picnic

There’s also the chance to join in with a weekend HiiT bootcamp, led by a different expert each week – I went along to a challenging session with the awesome Coach G in Regent’s Park, where we sprinted, squatted and burpee’d in the sun before another refuelling picnic. You can probably guess I’m a fan of the picnics… It’s a great way to meet new people and get a quality workout in the fresh air. To find out when the next run club and bootcamp sessions are taking place, and to register for your place – check here.

Let’s hope more brands take Sports Philosophy’s lead.

How to choose the right trainers

Trainers, trainers, everywhere

When it comes to kitting yourself out for exercise, choosing what to put on your feet is probably the most important decision you’ll make. But it’s also the most confusing. If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed about what sort of trainers you should be going for, here’s a step-by-step guide…

• Identify your activity type: Want trainers for cross-training at the gym? Get cross-training trainers. Want trainers for netball? Get netball trainers. Want running trainers? You can probably see where this is going… True, a lot of trainers can be used for more than one exercise, but if they’re being advertised as being made for a specific sport or activity, a lot of research and training has been put into that specialism, making them the best shoes for the job. For instance, netball trainers (like these) feature lots of support and cushioning to allow for all the jumping, changing direction and pivoting you’ll have to do.

These Pearl Izumi EM road trainers have cushioning for pounding the tarmac

• Go to a specialist shop: Runners Need and Sweatshop are two of the best, as the stores carry a range of brands and their staff are trained to help and assess which trainers will be the best fit. Great for runners in particular, they offer a free gait analysis – where you’ll get to try on the trainers and run for a few minutes on the in-store treadmill, where they’ll video you and assess how the trainer’s cushioning is affecting your form. Much more effective than just walking a few strides around the store or going for whichever trainers you like the look of… From this, they’ll be able to see if you overpronate (where the arch of your foot collapses to the inside) or underpronate (where your foot rolls to the outside) – both of which can skew how you run and result in injuries. Overpronators (a group I am a member of) need ‘stability’ trainers with extra cushioning to prop up the inner side of the foot. Underpronators need lightweight, flexible trainers to encourage the foot to curve more towards the centre. The folks in-store will be able to guide you to the shoes that offer the cushioning you need.

The New Balance Vazee Pace trainers are particularly lightweight for faster running

• Don’t scrimp: The best shoes for you might not be the most expensive, but if you’re unlucky, they might be. While everyone likes a bargain, trainers are not the place to look for one – they’re an investment into your health and wellbeing; enablers of whatever exercise you want to do, so accept that you’ll probably have to spend a fair bit on a decent pair. Weighing up spending out on some good footwear – which will last you a pretty long time; it’s recommended that you change your running shoes every 500 miles, so do the maths of how long that will take you – against the pain, frustration and inconvenience of getting injured due to wearing ineffective shoes, and it will always be worth it. BUT, once you know your footwear needs, there is the opportunity to save a bit of money by using sites such as Start Fitness, which has regular kit sales and discounts.

Embrace all the trainers

• It’s not about the brand: Yes, some brands are perceived as being a bit cooler than others, some are more well-known – but try to remember it’s about the service the shoes are doing to your feet, not for their status symbol. That’s not to say you’ll have to put up with a pair of rubbery abominations at the end of your legs – after all, if you hate your shoes, chances are you’ll never use them, which completely defeats the point. Every brand will have some nice looking options, even if they’re not quite what you had in mind to begin with.

And lastly, if you’re tempted to get started on working out before investing in some proper footwear, please DON’T. As someone who once went for (mercifully short) runs in a pair of Converse and ended up with a 70-year-old’s knee at the age of 23, it’s just not worth it.

Love your feet, everyone.